Taliban Envoy in Pakistan Held; as Search for Bin Laden, Omar Pressed

Copyright Manila Bulletin. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights or concerns about this content should be directed to Customer Service.

WASHINGTON/KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (Reuters) -- The US military took into custody the former Taliban ambassador to Pakistan even as its primary targets, Taliban supreme leader Mullah Mohammad Omar and Osama bin Laden, eluded Afghan and US forces.

Mullah Abdul Salam Zaeef, the Taliban's principal spokesman during the war in Afghanistan and the vanquished movement's highestranking official to be captured, joined hundreds of detainees facing interrogation by US officials seeking intelligence for their war on terrorism.

But Mullah Omar, the reclusive cleric who once ruled over almost all of Afghanistan, and bin Laden, accused by Washington of plotting the September 11 attacks that killed some 3,000 people, remained at large.

According to a report from the southern Afghan city of Kandahar, Mullah Omar escaped on motorcycle as anti-Taliban forces closed in on a mountainous area in southern Afghanistan where he was believed hiding.

Three months after the United States went to war in response to the attacks on New York and Washington, President George W. Bush led the country in mourning the loss of Sgt. 1st Class Nathan Ross Chapman, the first American soldier killed by enemy fire.

Chapman died in a gunbattle in eastern Afghanistan, where US troops are hunting remnants of the Taliban and bin Laden's al Qaeda network.

The new US envoy to Kabul, Zalmay Khalilzad, said the US bombing campaign, launched on October 7, would not end until its aims were met, despite concern among Afghanistan's new antiTaliban leaders at civilian casualties in recent strikes. …

Related articles on HighBeam Research

The Karachi newspaper "Ummat" of 22 November carries an article saying that Saddam Husseyn has offered asylum to the top Taliban and Al-Qaeda leadership, including Osama bin Laden and Mullah Omar. In this regard, a delegation led by a senior official in the Iraqi government. Taha Husseyn, met with…

Afghanistan's Foreign Minister Abdullah said on Sunday he believes most al-Qaeda and Taliban fugitives, including Osama bin Laden and Mullah Muhammad Omar, are in hiding across the border in northwest Pakistan. Abdullah said the fugitives still pose a threat and all countries in the region should…

Islamabad, Oct. 1 -- The United States has reiterated that top Taliban leaders including Mullah Omar are hiding in Quetta, the capital of Balochistan and carrying out their nefarious activities from there. Interacting with media persons here, Deputy Chief of the Mission, US Embassy, Gerald…

THE Taliban last night appeared to be on the brink of abandoning control of its southern stronghold of Kandahar as the coalition stepped up military pressure on al Qaeda and Osama bin Laden. Mullah Mohammad Omar, the Taliban's supreme leader, was said to be preparing to hand control of Kandahar to…

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - Fugitive Taliban leader Mullah Omar said he has not seen Osama bin Laden since the hard-line Afghan militia lost power five years ago, a newspaper reported Thursday. Omar also said the Taliban and al-Qaida still share the joint goal of driving U.S. forces out of Afghanistan,…